Posts Tagged ‘Foo Fighters’

First and foremost my utmost apologies for the lag in posts over the last couple months. It has been an eventful summer. Thanks to all the readers who wrote in urging me to carry on. Rather than rehash each show I have been to this summer I figured I would just post the highlights. There were tons of good shows and festivals this season. Lots of good gigs I wanted to get to and was either unable to due to time or money. However, when it was all said and done I saw some banger shows. Here’s the highlights:

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

I’ve seen Tom Petty before, but he is one artist who I am willing to continue paying big bucks to see. Plus this show was at Red Rocks, which is amazing in and of itself. Petty played all the status quo hits here, but the real treat was the new material off of his Mojo album that came out weeks before this show, which was the opening night for the tour. Coming off his reunion with his original band Mudcrutch, which is a fabulous album too, he took the Heartbreakers into the studio and recorded one of their rawest albums to date. The tone reverts much more to blues and classic rock than the pop. Petty has conquered it all – from record executives to stalkers burning down his home – and he is at a point in his career where he can just play music from the gut. That came through in the show. The guys were just having fun, playing songs that are older than I am – “breakdown” – to banging out new material like “Jefferson Jericho Blues.” Head and shoulders above the rest this was the No. 1 show this summer.

Them Crooked Vultures

A close second to Petty was this Supergroup. Typically I am not a fan of these power bands that collaborate big name stars, but Dave Grohl (Scream, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, Probot) Josh Homme (QOTSA, Eagles of Death Metal) and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) are heavyweights in the world of rock and roll. I had previously seen Grohl with the Foo Fighters and Homme with the Eagles of Death Metal so Jones was on my hit list to see live. These guys go hard every song. While the Vultures material sounds like QOTSA to me, most likely because Homme takes the role of vocals, just seeing Jones on the bass and Grohl wail on the drums was surreal. The three really play off each other well and put on a heck of a show. “New Fang” was the high point for me, but “Mind Eraser no Chaser” was also a stellar song. Grohl took some breathtaking solos on the drum. Bair-back with sweat flying from his mass of black hair, Grohl would attack the kit in a massive assault reminiscent of his days in Nirvana and Scream. However, Jones flawless and seemingly effortless drive on the bass was worth the price of admission alone. Homme held down his staple role on guitar and vocals swinging vodka straight from the bottle with a drive that most musicians would kill for. Definitely a show for the ages.

Murder By Death

I have been a diehard Murder By Death fan since their 2003 “Who Will Survive, and what will be left of them?” album. Since then lead vocalist Adam Turla has vastly improved his voice, which in my opinion has hurt the music. Their recording efforts have stepped up in terms of quality as well. This show was to kick off their new album, just about to be released at the time, “Good Morning, Magpie.” The effort was great, and the band is truly talented. Cellist Sarah Balliet alone brings a diverse mix to the music that most alt-country groups can’t pull off. The show revolved around primarily new material, with some older hits thrown in. As much as I love MBD, the live show didn’t hit me as much as I hoped it would. Not to take anything away from the band, it was a quality show that included great sons such as “Devil in Mexico,” “Master in Reverse Psychology” and “Coming Home.” It just didn’t jump off the stage any different than the record player. As a side note, if you have not seen the film this band is named after go watch it now, it is hilarious.

Blitzen Trapper

This show was a pleasant surprise. I had been enjoying Blitzen Trapper’s new album “Destroyer of the Void” when a buddy from work told me he had a couple tickets and asked if I wanted to go to the show. With “Furr” being one of my favorite albums of recent years I jumped at the opportunity to see these guys live. The first thing that struck me about the show was how much was going on at once. They are a sextet and each guy plays multiple instruments and they all harmonize together. While they played a few older songs, much of the show focused on new material that I wasn’t as familiar with. For a folk rock band they managed a fine balance of slower paced songs with upbeat quicker tempo tunes. The highlight for me had to be “Black River Killer,” perhaps one of my favorite songs of the decade. Other great songs were “Below the Hurricane,” “Destroyer of the Void” and an acapella folk tune by drummer Brian Adrian Koch. This was an awesome unexpected show.

Jucifer

What better way to end the summer than with a bang, and Jucifer can bang. The husband wife duo out of Athens, Georgia can produce some noise. The group is best known for its wall of speakers that it assembles at each show. I counted more than 60 speakers in the amp setup that literally ran from the floor to ceiling. I rarely wear earplugs at shows, but I brought some heavy-duty Hearos for this one. Good thing because the sound produced by guitarist Amber Valentine was so loud it vibrated my bones. People were literally stepping back. My brother’s review of the show: “It was so loud it shook my insides, I thought I was going to throw up.” Aside from being the loudest show I had ever been to, Jucifer is really entertaining to watch. Valentine, rocking a Flying V guitar and a sort of Pocahontas outfit complete with moccasins and a feather in the hair, not only plucked out heavy metal riffs on the guitar, screeched on the mic, but changed all the lighting on stage with foot pedals. Ed Livengood was just as entertaining on the drums, which he beat on standing more than he did flopped back in an old ducked-tapped chair, not a drum seat, a standard chair. Livengood started the show beating on the kit with about five sticks in each hand and progressed to slamming his snare while dampening it with his foot at the same time. He also pulled double duty wailing out some vocals. The duo didn’t seem to care much to stick to their recorded material so much as jam for 12 minutes at a time, which was pretty awesome to watch. Bottom line these guys are loud, talented, but really really loud.

When I heard a few months ago that Dave Grohl, of the Foo Fighters and Nirvana, Josh Homme, of Queens of the Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal, and John Paul Jones, Led Zeppelin, were combining forces to create a band I was skeptical at the very least.

Frankly, it seemed too good to be true.

Well not only is it true, but the group called Them Crooked Vultures let loose all 12 songs in their entirety on YouTube.

The end result is a thick album full of beefy riffs and chunky beats courtesy of Grohl. While each member’s perspective style seeps through the hard rock album, I hear more QOTSA than anything here. Perhaps that is because a large share of the vocals are Homme’s.

Of the 13 spectacular tracks, the first single, “White Fang,” stands out as the best with a monster beat, thundering bass and slightly distorted vocals.

I mean Guitar Hero was such a raging hit with the kids, adults and especially the musicians who watched their sagging record sales soar, that MC’’s wanted their slice of the pie.

Thus we have DJ Hero – a delightfully tacky new Freestyle Games creation complete with a faux turntable and tunes from Eminem and Daft Punk.

The premise for the video game, set to hit stores Oct. 27, is akin to its predecessor Guitar Hero and Rock Band where the player takes on the persona of a DJ with a control in the shape of a turntable instead of a guitar or drums.

The turntable is complete with 360 degree rotation and three buttons, two for records and one sample. Then there is a cross fader and effects and “euphoria button. The player is given the opportunity to “spin” by correlating the three buttons and fader with a predetermined pattern playing during a song on the screen in three separate timelines.

So for the good part – music – the game boasts more than 102 songs and unique mixes. The list is impressive.

DJ Hero just seems like another way to waste time mastering something that is pointless. However DJ Hero skills may actually transfer to real turntables a bit more than Guitar Hero as the game teaches basics of mixing tracks.

Sunday was the 51st annual Grammy’s, and while I watched some of the sluggish show, I admittedly couldn’t bring myself to sit through the entire thing.

And while majority of the show was pretty lame, there were some high points that are worth noting

Radiohead’s performance of “15 step” with the University of Southern California marching band was great. It was the first time Radiohead performed at the Grammys. Even though Radiohead’s album In Rainbows was released in 2007, it was up for album of the year and unfortunately lost to Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Raising Sand.

Foo Fighters Dave Grohl and Sir Paul McCartney performed “Saw her standing there.” According to reports, the Foo Fighters may be getting back into the studio to work on its next album as early as this summer.

Then there was Blink 182’s announcement that they are getting back together. Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker, who was severely injured in a plane crash in September 2007, appeared with his left arm in a sling.

The trio has taken quite different paths over the past four years since the band broke up.Boxcar racer, Angels & Airwaves, The Aquabats, +44 and The Transplants all were graced by Blink members.

Will Blink’s yet to be named 6th studio album be worth the listen? Perhaps, but the band really hit its peak with Dude Ranch released more than a decade ago.

All in all, the Grammys are an overproduced charade that fails really delve into the music business. The really progressive artists aren’t even on the Grammys radar. Plant hit the nail on the head when he said, “In the old days we would have called this selling out.”